We are all so glad we came through to Cobar and did not free camp! Our air-conditioner was not turned off until the early hours of this morning. Quite a warm night again. 

Some details about Cobar.  The town has a lady Mayor of 13 years who is passionate about this community that support each other. The precious metals beneath the surface have sustained the community for over 150 years. The mining industry is the largest employer in the town and Cobar is the 'Copper Capital' of Western NSW.   While Cobar got its start on copper mining, gold, silver, lead and zinc have also been extensively mined in the district. The area of the Shire is 45,000 square kms and it has a population of 5,000.  

We left the park about 8.30am and being Sunday the main street was pretty deserted.  We were able to snap the iconic pubs in the main street! The Great Western Hotel claims to have the longest Pub verandah in Australia. The Palace in Broken Hill must go close to equaling it and the Palace is definitely maintained at a much higher standard! The Grand Hotel is the home of the. "Big Tooey Beer Can". It is 5 metres high and 2.5 metres in diameter.   It can't be big enough to make the book of 'Top 50 Big Aussie Icons', but it is said that it will hold 79,398 middies of beer or 22,000 litres! 

The Cobar Visitor Centre at the Great Cobar Heritage Centre is definitely a must if you visit Cobar. We came away with lots of ideas to bring back home to the Chapman Valley Museum. The building was formerly the office of the Great Cobar Copper Mining Company and it was sold by Cobar Mines Pty Ltd to the Cobar Shire Council in 1968 for one dollar.

Lunch was at the footy oval in Nyngan.  We had a look around and found some interesting things to snap which gives you a feel for the town.  Nyngan is on the Bogan River and in April 1990, unusually heavy rains caused major flooding in the town. Despite a massive effort by local people to build levee walls using sandbags, the town almost completely flooded.   All the residents had to be evacuated by helicopter from the railway station, the highest point of the town.   Army helicopters, TV news helicopters and private helicopters all co-operated in the airlift. The total damage amounted to $50 million. There is a helicopter in the main street that was donated to the town as a memento of the town evacuation.  The river rarely floods in Nyngan.  Flooding of the Bogan appears to be at Peak Hill.  

The next 2 1/2 hours of travel to Dubbo was interesting as the countryside changed dramatically with a lot more cropping.  We saw our first irrigation channel about 140 kms from Dubbo.  There were lots of dams in the paddocks and we didn't see any windmills.  One would think they don't have to pull on underground water or maybe there isn't any like parts of WA.  Maybe it rains often enough that they can rely on dams for water for the stock?  Questions for the information centre in Dubbo.  

We all agreed the town of Nevertire was tiring!  But there was a huge grain receival site, so production in the area is good!  We left the Barrier Highway at Nyngan and travelled to Dubbo on the Mitchell Highway.  We first sighted Dorper sheep at Trangie and there was a large Agricultural Research Station just before the town.  It was in the Trangie area that we had two way radio discussion about the crop being grown by irrigation.  With the help of the internet we think it was probably cotton!  Amazed at the expenditure to construct these new irrigation channels.

We also had a little stop at Narromine and took photos of the Glenn McGrath stature.  A tribute to the local hero who grew up in the town.  Glad to get to Dubbo and we are here for 3 nights.  It will be good to catch up on shopping and yes - washing!  A visit to the zoo will be a must!